This year, I am participating in Amy Johnson Crow’s 2025 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, weekly prompts to tell your ancestors’ stories.
She recently released the prompt for January 1-7: Who was the first person you wanted to find when you started your genealogy journey?
I love this prompt because the person who kickstarted my genealogy was my great-grandmother, Giovanna Fera Campanile.
Grandma Geni was my Grandma Angie’s mother. She immigrated to the U.S. from Marzano Appio, Italy, in 1903.
I did not have the opportunity to meet her since she passed before I was born, but I was told bits and pieces about her and the impact she had on my mother.
I began researching my family history ten years ago, and she was the first ancestor I wanted to learn everything about because her story fascinated me.
I did not have much information on her except that she was born in Italy and married my great-grandfather, Raffaele (Ralph) Campanile, while living in Italy.
He left for the U.S. around 1900 to work and earn money for the family in New York since they lived in poverty in Italy. She later sailed from Naples, Italy, to the U.S. with a tiny baby to meet up with him. She officially arrived on U.S. soil 12 Sept 1903 at Ellis Island.
She and Grandpa Ralph eventually settled in Baker, Louisiana, after he had to travel there from New York to bail one of his brothers out of jail (according to the story that was told to me). I am still searching for proof of this to this day…
My mother told me she remembers her as a warm and loving woman, and I cannot wait to share her story in a later post.
Leave a Reply